Miezela Celestella
Miezela Celestella is the minister of propaganda of the Great Garmillas Empire under Abelt Dessler. A Jirel, Celestella is the only alien in Dessler’s inner circle. History Early Life As a child, Celestella was a victim of ongoing assaults on the telepathic Jirel people by their suspicious non-telepathic neighbors. With her civilization and her species collapsing, Celestella and her younger sister Mirenel Linke were eventually imprisoned on Prison Planet 17. The frightened refugee girls were discovered and released by Abelt Dessler, who surprised them with his show of compassion and trust. Celestella grew up as a full citizen under Dessler’s rule, and rose within the ranks of the empire that had become her home (“The Planet That We Head For”, “The Forever War”). Service to Dessler Minister Celestella's regular duties include writing speeches for Dessler ("Wish Upon a Star"), approving and censoring military reports and intelligence from both the front and at home, and collaborating with Imperial Guard director Hydom Gimleh to put down resistance activities within the empire.[http://yamato2199.net/character_cerestera.html Official Space Battleship Yamato 2199 website character data] In the year 2199, Celestella's responsibilities increasingly involve the Earth battleship Yamato as it ventures into interstellar space. When she hears her first report on Yamato from Colonel Walke Shultz during a direct call to Leader Dessler, she contradicts him by arguing that humans did not have the capability to build faster-than-light ships ("The Sun Sets on Pluto"). At a foundation celebration hosted by Dessler, she presents a trap for Yamato utilizing a gaseous life form as entertainment for the assembled guests ("Wish Upon a Star"). She later travels to the empire's base on the planet Balun with Mirenel Linke to oversee a plan conceived by General Erich Domel for telepathically infiltrating the Earth vessel. The operation ends in failure and the death of her sister, leaving Celestella with no close companionship ("The Whisper of the Witch"). Celestella reports the mission's findings to Dessler, including the discovery that Iscandar is helping the humans. At the end of her report, she reasserts her loyalty to him, despite the loss of Linke ("Point of No Return"). During this time, Celestella also becomes crucial to helping Dessler survive and defeat an attempted coup launched by one of his most senior officers. She is able to use her telepathic abilities and her close proximity to Field Marshal Herm Zoellik, inspector general of the Garmillas military, to uncover a plot to assassinate Dessler by destroying his ship during an inspection tour. Dessler is able to arrange for a body double to be placed on the ship at the time of the explosion, and Celestella remains close to Zoellik in the following days as he maneuvers to take leadership of the empire. When Dessler emerges from hiding, he openly credits Celestella shortly before Zoellik's execution ("Point of No Return", "Out of the Forest of Memory", "Over the Black Light"). Celestella continues to serve Dessler throughout the final weeks of his regime. She is able to speak at length with Lieutenant Yuki Mori, a Yamato crew member mistaken for Yurisha Iscandar and abducted as part of a political gambit by Dessler. During their meeting, Mori asks Celestella if she is in love with Dessler, which she nervously denies. Celestella is able to identify Mori as human and not Iscandarian, and reports the fact to Dessler and the rest of the cabinet ("The Planet That We Head For"). When Yamato itself arrives at Garmillas and brings its battle to the capital city of Baleras itself, Celestella furiously demands more protection. Unknown to her, Dessler is already prepared to evacuate Garmillas and resume the battle from orbit, by obliterating the city and all its inhabitants. Celestella watches tearfully as her leader rockets away ("One Man's War"). Exile and Death The disappearance of Dessler after the Battle of Garmillas and the end of his rule shatters Celestella's political and emotional connections to Garmillas. She flees the planet and heads out into intergalactic space, clinging to the belief that her leader is alive somewhere despite all evidence to the contrary. Celestella reaches the general vicinity of Balun before her vessel's engines fail. Her distress signal is answered by Yamato, and in a reversal of their first encounter months earlier, a morose Celestella is placed into the custody of Lieutenant Mori. Soon after Celestella is found, Yamato is attacked and boarded by rogue Garmillas forces. She escapes confinement and dashes toward freedom--and spots Abelt Dessler himself on Yamato, holding Mori captive. In an expression of pure joy, she calls out and sends a burst of sympathetic telepathy toward him. Dessler is terrified at this sudden invasion of his mind and reflexively fires his weapon at her. Celestella falls, injured, confused, and completely without hope. She picks up Mori's lost sidearm from the deck, shoots Dessler in the arm, and begs him to end his war before pointing the gun at her own head. Mori makes a desperate lunge to stop her from committing suicide, but Dessler's bodyguards open fire, killing Celestella. With Celestella's death, the last of the Jirel race to not go into hiding becomes extinct ("The Forever War", Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark). Personality After being rescued from imprisonment, Celestella's life revolves around Dessler. Her devotion to Dessler is partly an expression of gratitude for his kindness as well as a sincere belief in his policies, but ultimately it is Celestella's infatuation with Dessler that motivates her. However, serving the supreme leader of a society that routinely marginalizes non-Garmillans (including private references to the telepathic Celestella as a "witch") means that Celestella can never openly share her affection. In the role of propaganda minister, Celestella's loyalty is unwavering, and very nearly matches that of Hydom Gimleh in its ruthlessness. At a meeting with the high command, she defends Gimleh's genocidal actions against an uprising on Alteria. Even Dessler's willingness to murder millions of his own people during the Battle of Garmillas fails to shake her. Despite her clear sense of belonging to the Great Garmillas Empire, Celestella retains a strong bond to her Jirel identity. Upon the death of her sister, Celestella's first thoughts are of the fact that she is the only Jirel left in the universe. She is not afraid to display irritation towards Zoellik's racist statement that only the Garmillan "blue skins" truly matter. References Japanese language information ミーゼラ・セレステラ Miizera Seresutera Category:Great Garmillas Empire Category:Female Characters Category:Jirel Category:Deceased